The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing visual and operational feedback to a user of displayed data.
One use of computers is to allow a user to interact with data displayed on a computer display screen. The user may interact with the displayed data using a keyboard, a pointing device such as a "mouse", or by actually touching portions or regions of the display itself (via a touch screen). Unfortunately, the use or manipulation of data can be confusing or difficult to users that do not have experience with computer systems. Current display paradigms lack adequate cues and feedback to provide a satisfactory computing experience to the novice or infrequent user. As a result, a user may become frustrated and/or unable to interact with displayed data in a desired manner. Problems and disadvantages of interacting with display data can be understood by reviewing current approaches to the display and manipulation of data.
The means by which a computer user communicates with a computer is referred to as a "user interface." A user interface typically consists of a computer display screen and one or more input devices (keyboard, mouse, or touch screen, for example), as well as the computer software that interprets input and provides images displayed on the computer display. Commonly, data and information is displayed in one or more "windows" on a display, where a window is a rectangular region.
Sometimes the data to be displayed to the user, for example a graphic representation of a list or a text document, is too large to be shown on the display area in its entirety. When this occurs the display area can often be "scrolled" or "panned" to a new position relative to the displayed list or text such that the display area now shows portions the user was previously unable to see (and correspondingly, previously displayed portions may now no longer be displayed). The term scrolling is used herein to refer to both scrolling and panning. A problem with existing scrolling mechanisms is that people unfamiliar with computer interfaces often have trouble understanding how to operate them.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a prior art window with scroll bars. Window 100 shown in FIG. 1 is an interface for a word processing program. Window 100 features a vertical scroll bar 120 and a horizontal scroll bar 130 allows the user to scroll the data of document displayed in document display region 110. The vertical scroll bar 120 allows the user to move the contents of document display region 110 up or down and the horizontal scroll bar 130 allows the user to move the contents of document display region 110 left or right.
There are several way to begin moving the contents of document display region 110. For example, the user can scroll the document in display region 110 up by activating the up arrow 121 with the mouse button. Activating the down arrow 122 scrolls the document display region 110 down. If the user clicks on the double down arrow 124 or the double up arrow 125 one time the document display region 110 moves all the way to the top or bottom. The double down arrow and double up arrow provide a way to jump immediately to the start or end of a document regardless of what portion of the document the user is currently viewing.
The user can also use a mouse to drag the square box 123 up or down. This box is sometimes referred to as an "elevator" or "thumb". Moving square box 123 is another way to move the document display region. When the user moves square box 123 the page number corresponding to the relative position of the square box in scroll bar 120 is displayed at the bottom left of interface 100 and the contents of that page are shown in the document display region 110. If the user moves square box 133 the document display region moves either left or right. What direction the document display region 110 moves is dependent upon which direction the user moves square box 133 or square box 123.
If the user places the mouse cursor anywhere over scroll bar 120 or scroll bar 130 and clicks the mouse button, the document display region also moves. What direction the document display region moves depends upon where the user clicks the mouse cursor. If the mouse cursor is placed below square box 123, the document display region moves down when the mouse button is clicked. If the mouse cursor is placed above the square box 123, the document display region moves up when the mouse button is clicked. If the user places the mouse button on scroll bar 130, the document display region moves either left or right when the mouse button is clicked. The amount the document display region moves is proportionate to the distance the mouse cursor is from the square box 123.
Operating such a scrolling mechanism is complex for people who are unfamiliar with computer interfaces. Therefore, such users are in need of a scrolling mechanism that consistently provides instructional feedback. The present invention provides the user with visual clues in a manner that allows for efficient scrolling.